Chai Brady
Pope Benedict died on December 31, 2022, at the age of 95 in his residence at the Vatican. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) Former Pope Benedict XVI has died aged 95 in his residence at the Vatican’s Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, it was announced this morning.
He led the Church for eight years until he stood down in 2013 due to ill health, almost 10 years ago, becoming the first pope since Gregory XIII in 1415 to step down.
The Holy See press office said: “With sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34am in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican. Further information will be provided as soon as possible. As of Monday morning, 2 January 2023, the body of the Pope Emeritus will be in Saint Peter’s Basilica so the faithful can bid farewell.”
Pope Francis made pilgrims aware of his predecessors worsening health at his General Audience in St Peter’s Square on Wednesday, December 28.
The Pope had invited people to pray for the Pope Emeritus, who was “very ill”, so that the Lord might console him and support him “in this witness of love for the Church until the end.”
The Holy See press office is expected to communicate news of the Pope Emeritus’s funeral arrangements in the coming hours, details which they have not revealed much about up to this point.
Born in Germany, Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope by the College of Cardinals in 2005, becoming Pope Benedict.
Much of his papacy was marked by revelations of child abuse by priests.
The former pope was a highly accomplished theologian and was one of St John Paul II closest advisors. He wrote extensively in defence of Catholic doctrine and to counter the growing secularisation of the Western world.